Indigenous student Josh Harmer is becoming one of the nation’s most sought-after paramedic science undergraduates, yet he was once a victim of racist and homophobic bullying and was told to drop out of high school.

Mr Harmer, 20, lives in Tweed Heads in northern New South Wales, but travels to the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane to study.

From ABC North CoastPhoto: Paramedic science student Josh Harmer has been chosen to work with some of America’s leading advanced life support crews in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. (ABC North Coast: Samantha Turnbull)

He will graduate at the end of this semester and hopes to continue studying medicine to eventually become a qualified doctor.

“I’ve always loved helping people, and then I built an interest around cardiology and the heart and why our body functions the way that it does,” he said.